The Office of Mosquito Control will not go back in front of the Stuttgart City Council in November after their request to send two employees to the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association meeting was denied.

“You have to have a licensed operator and get continuing (education),” Daniel Masingale, director of the Office of Mosquito Control said. “This (meeting) qualifies for continuing education.”

Earlier this month the Stuttgart City Council denied the request to send newly-hired Tashema Ferrell after the department went over budget.

“Since they are over budget I make a motion to only send Daniel,” Stuttgart City Council member Ruth Ann Trice said the meeting.

The remaining council members unanimously accepted this motion.

According to Masingale, this annual meeting is the same training meeting the department attends every year. This would have been the first training session for Ferrell.

“We are going to look into getting her licensed next year,” Masingale said. “We attend this meeting every year for training, education and to discuss current mosquito control practices in use throughout our industry.”

Since at this time Ferrell is not licensed it is not mandatory for her to attend.

The training and travel expense was already approved through the 2012 budget. But after a late blast of mosquitoes into Stuttgart an extra tote of chemical had to be purchased, which cost the department $21,000, causing the department as a whole to be over budget.

But according to Jane Jackson, with the finance department, the department had $1,500 in its travel budget with $650 used and $845 left to spend on the travel and lodging arrangements for the trip.

The Louisiana Mosquito Control Association meeting will be held Dec. 3 through Dec. 7 in Lafayette.